Recently, Wang Xuefu, Associate Professor of School of Pharmacy, being the first author, had a research paper entitled “IL-17 constrains natural killer cell activity by restraining IL-15–driven cell maturation via SOCS3” published online in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS). Tian Zhigang, academician of the University of Science and Technology of China, offered instructions to the research as the corresponding author.
This study found that IL-17A constrained IL-15 signaling and the maturation of NK cells via up-regulation of SOCS3, and thus constrained NK cell antitumor and antiviral activity. It reveals a new mechanism for regulating the maturation of NK cells, and provides new ideas and targets for NK cell-based immunotherapy.